Welcome to the ACAMS Central Florida Chapter web site. This chapter was launched in January 2012 and was founded by an Executive Board comprised of anti-money laundering professionals drawn from financial institutions, regulatory agencies and the private sector throughout Central Florida.

The ACAMS Central Florida Chapter’s objective is to be an effective and productive resource for financial institutions and related industries in the areas of career development, educational growth and professional networking. This will be achieved by organizing meetings and instructional events featuring subject matter experts in anti-money laundering and fraud detection from the private sector, supervisory and regulatory agencies and law enforcement. ACAMS Central Florida Chapter members are highly encouraged to add their voice, experience and expertise to promote, expand and improve the local anti-money laundering community.

We look forward to having you as a member of the ACAMS Central Florida Chapter and to seeing you at our upcoming events.

Counter Threat Finance Learning Event

August 18, 2017

Speaker:

Kurt Gredzinski

Kurt Gredzinski has worked for US special Operations Command USSOCOM since retiring from the Army in 2008. Kurt currently works in the Operations Directorate, Transnational Threats Division (J36) as the Policy Training and Outreach (PTO) Team Chief. The PTO team engages the private sector, develops CTF’s presence in DoD doctrine and policy, as well as continue to expand our role in educating SOF Forces in recognition and exploitation of illicit financial information on the battlefield.

Law Enforcement Panel Hot Topics and Trends

June 22, 2017

Your Central Florida ACAMS Chapter is excited to announce that we will be having another Law Enforcement Panel in the Tampa area! For those of you that were unable to make our first Law Enforcement Panel, we are pleased to invite you to this opportunity to network with Federal law enforcement agents, supervisors, and AML professionals from the region. Our panel is well-seasoned in anti-money laundering/financial crimes investigations and represent the Department of Homeland Security, DEA, IRS, and FBI. They will cover a variety of "hot topics" including:

The mission and investigative priorities/initiatives related to financial investigations from the major Federal Law Enforcement Investigative agencies in the Central Florida Region

New trends and threats that are the focus of Federal law enforcement

New techniques and analytical approaches from case studies of Federal criminal investigations related to money laundering and other financial crimes

Sanctions Hot Topics

June 29, 2017

Please join your Central Florida ACAMS Chapter and our speaker Andres Fernandez for this informative learning event! Andres Fernandez is a partner in Holland & Knight’s Miami office and leader of the firm’s Cuba Action Team. He practices in the area of banking law and financial services, with a focus on licensing, regulatory and compliance matters. With an emphasis on issues pertaining to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), anti-money laundering (AML) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Mr. Fernandez counsels a broad range of clients such as domestic community banks, foreign banks, broker dealers and money service businesses (including virtual/digital currency). His fluency in Spanish helps clients in the United States as well as Central and South America. He will explore the impact to financial institutions in connection with the growing concern and challenges associated with compliance with the OFAC sanctions. This seminar will cover the following:

Why must a financial institution focus on OFAC;

General OFAC compliance obligations and baseline;

Determining whether entities that are owned or controlled by blocked persons are themselves blocked persons;

Event-driven enhanced due diligence and look-back reviews;

Common mistakes and lessons learned; and

Handling penalties and voluntary self-disclosures.

In addition to the foregoing, this seminar will cover recent changes with respect to the Cuba and Iran sanctions. Among others, OFAC has administered and enforced a series of sanctions against Cuba for decades, and just in the past two (2) years, these sanctions have been reduced, allowing more transactions to be conducted. What caused these changes? What do these changes mean? What is now permissible for financial institutions and other persons that are subject to OFAC regulations? What remains in the "danger zone"? What may change, if any, under the new Administration with respect to the Cuba and Iran sanctions?

Law Enforcement Panel Hot Topics and Trends

May 31, 2017

Your Central Florida ACAMS Chapter is excited to invite you to our first Law Enforcement Panel. Our speakers will cover a variety of "hot topics" emerging in the AML/BSA and CFT arena.

We have invited law enforcement from the Department of Homeland Security, IRS, DEA and FBI. This will be a great event to hear law enforcement’s perspective on pressing issues and trends related to financial crimes.

Most Common Deficiencies of an AML Program and How to Correct Them

Jody Schmidt is the Chief BSA Officer for CenterState Bank of Florida, N.A. headquartered in Winter Haven, Florida. In this role, Jody leads CenterState Bank’s enterprise BSA/AML Program. Prior to her employment with CenterState Bank, Ms. Schmidt served as the Director of Regulatory Risk Management for Federal Trust Bank in Sanford, Florida. Ms. Schmidt was responsible for the bank’s BSA/AML, Regulatory Compliance, Security, Audit and CRA/HMDA/Fair Lending Programs. Prior to joining Federal Trust Bank in 1992, Ms. Schmidt spent thirteen years with First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Seminole County, where she was responsible for the Bank’s BSA, Compliance and Security Programs. During her career at First Federal of Seminole, Ms. Schmidt also served as an adjunct instructor for Valencia Community College, teaching a variety of banking classes to employees of financial institutions throughout the Central Florida area. Ms. Schmidt is a Past President of the Board of Directors of the Debary Chamber of Commerce, a past First Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Central Florida Chapter of the Institute of Financial Education and currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Seminole County Meals on Wheels Agency.

Ms. Schmidt is a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and is a recipient of the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) designation. Ms. Schmidt is a member of The Anti Money Laundering Association, the Central Florida Compliance Association and also holds the ABA’s Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager and the ICBA’s Certified Community Bank Security Officer designations. Ms. Schmidt has been a guest speaker at the International Ant-Money Laundering Conference.

Carolina has over 12 years of audit, risk, AML, compliance and regulatory safety and soundness experience. She specializes in evaluating compliance, operational, financial, and AML control systems, and leading large review and look-back projects. At FIS, she is responsible for AML and Fraud related services such as performing High Risk Customers reviews of personal and business accounts, Alert Clearing, KYC and EDD research, and transaction monitoring.

Carolina started her banking career at the Florida Office of Financial Regulation as a Bank Examiner. She most recently worked for Florida Bank of Commerce, as Senior Vice President BSA and Compliance Officer. Carolina also worked as a Commercial Real Estate Underwriter for a $30MM portfolio with Mercantile Bank a.k.a TD Bank.

Carolina is also Board member of the Central Florida Compliance Association since 2012 and Co-Chair of the ACAMS Central Florida Chapter since January 2017. She is also a Notary Public and Closing Real Estate Agent.

Erin Mulligan currently works as the DDR Compliance Manager at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC). Prior to that role, she also worked as both a Team Lead in Mandatory Reorg Announcements (2014-2016), and as an AML/KYC Specialist (2010-2014) at DTCC.

Ms. Mulligan received her Doctorate of Philosophy from University of South Florida’s (USF) Criminology program while also serving as Adjunct Faculty at the USF from 2008 to 2015, where she was responsible for instructing numerous sections of “Abnormal Behavior & Criminality” and “Selected Topics: Financial Crimes”. Prior to joining USF’s Ph.D. program, she received both an M.A. in psychology and a B.A. with concentrations in psychology and justice studies from Rhode Island College. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), and her research interests include Morality, Deception, & Financial Crime..

As an Audit Controller is responsible for the delivery of timely, complex, and value added audits focused on AML and core Compliance activities for Citi entities operating in Latin America. Leads audit teams primarily to complete the annual audit plans and execute the evaluation of the entity’s conformance to local country and U.S. regulations.

In a previous role, she was the primary and global point of contact with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in NY for matters related to AML/Compliance regulatory requests and examination deliverables. She was also responsible to ensure the integrity of the audit issue classifications and related data used for AML and Compliance reporting /MIS. Further, she was part of Internal Audit’s global team responsible for the development of the new audit methodology, global training/facilitation and subsequent implementation.

Olga has 30+ years of experience in the financial services sector which incorporates Citi, Salomon Brothers and Scotiabank. She has held various roles within these organizations, i.e., Internal Auditor, Quality Assurance, Operations and Project Management, Information Security, and Risk & Control Officer.

She earned a Masters in Organizational Management (University of Phoenix); BA in Business Administration (Eckerd College); she is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMs); a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified in Control Self-Assessment (CCSA), and currently is a Candidate for the Certified Internal Audit (CIA) designation in 2018. Olga serves on the ACAMS West Florida Chapter Board since 2012.

Shanna specializes in the deterrence of financial crimes such as money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud and identity theft. She is an expert in mitigating operational, reputational, compliance and regulatory risks. Shanna is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist who has extensive knowledge of anti-money laundering regulations contained within The Bank Secrecy Act and USA Patriot Act.

Shanna is an avid tennis player who has led her teams to city, regional and state championships. She also served as a member of the Houston Tennis Association Discipline and Grievance committee. Shanna is a Flex League singles semi-finalist and a doubles finalist in Houston and Dallas, Texas.

Jennifer McEntire works on the Market Planning team that is responsible for the definition of strategies to deliver reliable Financial Crime Compliance technology and comprehensive financial intelligence to help organizations effectively comply with BSA, AML, Economic Sanctions and Anti-Bribery and Corruption regulations. Jennifer joined LexisNexis Risk Solutions in 2015.

Prior to joining LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Jennifer worked for 10 years in the financial sector in various compliance and fraud operations management positions. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and serves on the ACAMS Central Florida Chapter Board of Directors.

Mrs. Bezhitashvili is member of the Compliance and Risk Committees. She helps forming guidelines and providing research with regulatory compliance, while also managing CXI’s federal and state licenses. Before joining Currency Exchange International, Khatuna worked for Bank of Ireland’s FCE as well as a major Orlando International Law Office specializing in International Business law.

Graduated Suma Cum Laude in Economics (1999) from the Technical University of Georgia, earned a BA in International Affairs from Rollins College in 2005, and attained her MBA from Webster University in 2011. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), a certification from the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).

Her expertise is in many facets of regulatory compliance including most recently as the Chief Compliance Officer for a technology firm working with customers required to follow and enforce Know Your Customer (KYC) and/or Customer Identification Program (CIP) rules and regulations by authenticating customers to prevent loss by the use of fraudulent documents. She also worked as an Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer/Privacy Officer at an International broker/dealer and RIA and as a self-employed consultant for dually registered financial services firms.

She is a proven dedicated professional with current FINRA Series 7 and 24 licenses, Florida Life & Variable Annuity license, and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS) certifications.

Hector X. Colón currently serves as Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC), Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Tampa, Florida. He has more than 20 years of Federal law enforcement experience. Prior to his assignment as ASAC in Tampa, Mr. Colón held various key leadership positions at HSI HQs, including as the Chief of Staff of Joint Task Force – Investigations (JTF-I), the Director of Investigations for HSI at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Targeting Center (NTC-I), and as Unit Chief, HSI Trade Transparency Unit (TTU) and the Illicit Finance and Proceeds of Crime Unit (IFPCU).

Mr. Colón began his federal law enforcement career in 1997, with the former U.S. Customs Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, specializing in financial crimes, Customs fraud, cybercrimes, and computer forensics. He has served in a variety of leadership positions for HSI in both foreign and domestic assignments, including as Interim Attaché in Caracas, Venezuela, Group Supervisor in Houston, Texas, and Unit Chief for HSI’s Illicit Finance and Proceeds of Crime Unit (IFPCU). He has represented DHS at various forums throughout the world in support of efforts to combat transnational crime, illicit finance and money laundering, and terrorism, including at the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG) and as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Mr. Colón has a Master’s degree in Science from Johns Hopkins University School of Education’s Public Safety Leadership Division, and is a graduate of the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University. He is also an active member of the U.S. Army Reserve and a Gulf War veteran.

Kathalin is the Director of Regulatory Compliance at Jabil’s Risk Governance Office in St. Petersburg, Florida. Kathalin has over 12 years of experience working in the areas of BSA/AML, OFAC, FCPA, risk, regulatory/corporate compliance and criminal investigations with governmental and non-governmental domestic and international corporations. Prior to working at Jabil, she was the Vice President of Compliance at Provest and the Surveillance Manager for the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) responsible for the supervision, maintenance, development and implementation of the companies’ Compliance and /or Ethics programs. From 2005 to 2010, Kathalin worked at Banco Do Brasil and Citigroup in the areas of Global AML Operations and Monitoring, Terrorist Financing, Regulatory Compliance, Customer Enhanced Due Diligence (KYC/CIP/EDD), USA PATRIOT ACT, and Risk. She was also responsible for implementing a Compliance Program for BB Money Transfers operations in the U.S. and Brazil in addition to supporting Banco Do Brasil’s New York, Orlando and Miami Offices and liaising with State and Federal regulatory authorities to fulfill the Bank’s regulatory efforts. Kathalin is native of Maracaibo, Venezuela where she obtained a Law degree from the Universidad del Zulia. In 2001, she attained a Master Degree in Criminology from The University of South Florida, and she holds a Master of Laws International Law and Business (LL.M.) from Stetson University College of Law in Florida. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (CAMS) and a Certified Compliance Corporate and Ethics Professional (International) – CCEP-I. Recently, Kathalin was responsible for the supervision, maintenance, and implementation of Jabil’s Business Conduct and Ethics program in the Americas region; now as the Director of Regulatory Compliance, she is responsible for the development and execution of effective legal and regulatory risk management programs for the company.

Kathalin served as a Co-Chair of the ACAMS Central Florida Chapter and is now part of its Advisory Board member. She has written on several corporate compliance topics and has presented on anti-corruption and corporate compliance topics to domestic and international audiences. In the spring of 2014, Kathalin was showcased by the Association of Certified Anti-money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) as one of the influential women who is making her own mark in the Anti-money laundering and financial crimes field. Kathalin is fluent in both English and Spanish, and speaks Portuguese.